


The Morning Papers

by von_gelmini



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: But under 18, It's been warned for and tagged, M/M, Open Relationships, Peter Parker is above NY state age of consent laws, Polyamory, Secret Relationship, So I guess Tony Stark has a thing for alliterative names like Clark Kent does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-29 17:25:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19404811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/von_gelmini/pseuds/von_gelmini
Summary: After an amazing date night, the morning newspaper arrivals bring unwanted attention to Tony's relationship-s.





	The Morning Papers

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. This is in some alternate timeline I guess. The Snap never happened. Tony and Pepper are married. Pre-Morgan’s arrival. Post-Infinity War. AU where they defeated Thanos the first time around. I dunno. It’s just in a weird relation to canon space/time I guess. I didn’t much think about it. It was just going to be the first little bit but then things happened and it grew.

  
Tony’d seen the papers. The pictures of him and Peter were all over every one of them this morning, even the venerable ‘gray lady’. Unavoidable, he supposed. 

Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes and they had their long discussion watching the sun come up with the early editions. Yes, he knew the rules about discretion. Yes, he was five million kinds of sorry that some fucking pap had managed to catch the shot of a lifetime. But honestly, one of these days it was bound to happen to one or the other of them. It could just as easily have been her and Maria Hill as him and Peter. 

Which Pepper had to agree was true. Last week she and her steady girlfriend had dinner in public and held hands and even reached across the table for a kiss. They just happened to not have gotten caught. So Pepper quickly got over her initial flare of anger. She wasn’t really angry at Tony anyway, just at the situation. Honestly, she was happy that Tony had found Peter and that there was a real spark of affection there, that the boy wasn’t just one of Tony’s bedpost notches. She knew how rare it was for Tony to find an actual connection, and how very much he needed that… but damn, it didn’t make the situation any easier to deal with. She sighed. That wasn’t Tony’s fault.

The music would have to be faced, she admitted, snatching the coffee cup (on it’s fourth refill) from Tony’s hands and putting it in the sink. She had a morning meeting cross town to get to and Tony was due up at Avengers Headquarters for noon. She’d face the inevitable crowd of reporters first. Alone, she insisted. Tony would wait until after they’d clamored for their quotes from the 'aggrieved wife’. She’d handle it. Then she’d get Stark Industries’ PR department on putting out the fires for the rest of the day. Tony would jet off the roof in his suit for upstate New York later and miss the whole brouhaha, because Pepper knew he wouldn’t handle it, he’d confront it head on with full arrogance and be his own worst PR nightmare. Tony sheepishly agreed. 

Wearing her most severe power suit, highest heels, hair done to perfection, Pepper stepped out of the door and headed for the car (and the reporter throng) waiting for her below. After a five count, once the first elevator had gone, Tony followed, pressing down not up.

He caught sight of her, standing outside the Tower entrance, handling the situation like the consummate professional that she was. Happy was standing by her side, making sure that the nosy reporters at least kept their physical distance as they shouted rude, intrusive questions to her.

Tony burst through the door behind her and grabbed the first microphone he could reach out of a reporter’s hand.

“Our relationship is _our_ relationship and none of your damn business. But I’ll tell you this much. I did not _cheat_ on Pepper. I would _never_ cheat on Pepper. I couldn’t disrespect the woman I love so much as to do a thing like that. I have never done anything that this amazing woman didn’t fully know about. And the same goes for her regarding me. What we have, the way we have it, works for us and it’s not for any of you to judge. So print whatever trash you want, but you will leave Ms. Potts – Mrs. _Stark_ – **_ALONE_**. Am I clear?”

More questions came rapid fire, unintelligible, shouted over one another. Pepper looked at Tony, a soft smile on her lips and a resigned sloop to her shoulders. She was married to, and in a mutually agreed upon open relationship, with an absolute _disaster_ bisexual. The definition of the words. 

Tony smiled back broadly, leaned up on tip-toe and kissed Pepper on the forehead. “I love you,” he whispered, though he was sure it was picked up by the mics. He turned back to the cameras. “And I’m also dating Peter Parker. You caught us. Aren’t you clever,” he spat out with low menace. “Needless to say, you’ll leave him alone as well. God!” His anger came to a boil. “It’s none of your business! I just wanted you to know that whoever you 'catch’ me with, now or in the future, it’s nothing that Pepper doesn’t know about. One thing Pepper Potts Stark has never been is a victim and I’m not going to have you turning her into one. Or bothering any of the people I happen to be in love with. You small-minded petty little busybodies! It’s an open relationship. We’re not the first nor the only and you’d be surprised how many of us there are who are in them. But whatever it is, it _isn’t_ news. Did all the politicians suddenly become honest? Were there no robberies in New York last night? Nothing happening in Hell’s Kitchen? Nothing better in the world to write about other than the fact that I happen to be in love with more than one person? _That’s_ the biggest news story in the whole world?”

“Tony…” Pepper rested her hand on Tony’s arm. “I think they get it.”

Tony took a deep breath. “As always, I defer to her wisdom.” He smiled and gave Pepper a peck on the cheek. “You’re making her late for her meeting,” he said, wrapping his arm around Pepper’s waist and leading her, parting the throng, to the waiting limo. “Knock 'em dead, honey,” he added as he helped her into the car and closing the door.

“Now that I’ve gotten my wife off to work, I think I’ll go pick up my boyfriend and take him to school. If that’s okay with you guys." 

  
***

  
"Petey?” Tony knocked on the kid’s door. 

He’d already run the gauntlet of Aunt May’s baleful stare down and unspoken accusations. She knew about their relationship and had reluctantly agreed, given Peter’s determined, “I could lie about it but I don’t wanna lie to you,” but it was followed by her thoroughly quizzing over the particulars of who seduced whom and _exactly_ when. It didn’t help her case any that she’d been only two years older than Peter when she met Ben, who’d been thirteen years her senior. Something Peter didn’t hesitate to remind her.

Tony knocked again.

The door flung open, Peter pulled Tony into his room, then slammed the door shut and locked behind him. Sobbing, he fell into Tony’s arms.

“Hey kiddo. It’s all right. I’m here. I got you.”

“I can’t Tony. I just _can’t_.”

“Yeah. I’m so so sorry.”

Peter looked up, face screwed up in resolve. “It’s not your fault. Stop blaming yourself. I know you. You’ve been doing it all morning I bet.”

Tony chuckled. “Ya got me, babe. Never met a guilt I didn’t want to take on a trip.”

Peter wiped his eyes. “Yeah, well you promised me you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t get all hung up over this.”

“I know, I know. But…” Tony brushed Peter’s hair back from his forehead and caressed his cheek. “But look at the mess I’ve gotten you in. All because I wanted to show off for you last night. Wine you and dine you and dazzle you with the old charm routine.”

“Oh it was _amazing_ ,” Peter said smiling. “Feeling that attention, feeling that _special_.”

“You are that special, baby boy. I just wanted to overwhelm you with how totally gone I am for you. You deserve all that and everything more.” His expression soured. “But you don’t deserve what happened this morning because of it. Unfortunately, that can be part of the routine as well. The poor person I chose to impress often found herself (or himself) splashed all over the gossip rags the day after.” He looked contrite. “I never wanted that for you though. I kinda forgot about that part of it because… you’re not like that to me, you know that right? You do _know_ that?”

Peter sniffled. There wasn’t much of Tony’s life that he hadn’t been obsessively following all of his own life, ever since he was a little kid, wowed and saved by Iron Man at the Expo all those years ago. He knew the way Tony’s 'conquests’ were treated by the press. And he knew those conquests never lasted. Used for a day or maybe a week and then Tony’d move on to the next one. It’s just that he conveniently forgot about that part once he and Tony had… once Tony had confessed and Peter had confessed back and then there was That Kiss. And _everything_ else was forgotten. Caution meet wind.

But this morning when Peter logged into his computer, reality came crashing back hard. 

“I _don’t_ know, Mr. Stark. This is going to be a problem and it’s going to get messy and complicated and I know you don’t do messy and complicated, so no. I don’t know.”

“Oh baby.” Tony ran the back of his knuckles across Peter’s cheek, catching a teardrop on them. “You are not that to me. Not at all. Not a one-and-done, not a fling, and definitely not a problem. Do you think I ever told any of them what I told you after just one night? I love you, Peter. _Baby_ …" 

Peter started crying and Tony pulled him close, holding him tight, kissing the top of his head. "I don’t say that to anyone ever. God, it took me years before I ever even said it to Pepper. But you… ah god you… I fell so hard and so fast and so completely it terrified me. And I’m so sorry you’re going to have to go through all the absolute shit that having me being in love with you brings. I’m not worth it. You’re still a kid. Got your whole life ahead of you. You don’t need to be wasting it on me and my…” he took his hand from Peter’s back and waved it vaguely to somehow encompass _himself_ , “bullshit.”

“Stop it!” Peter said, pulling away, sitting up straight and staring at Tony. “Didn’t you believe me? When I said that I loved you too? You think that because I’m 'a kid’ that I’m going to run away from the person that I am in love with the first time it gets hard? God Tony! I love you. Somebody actually loves Tony Stark. And you’re just going to have to deal with that, okay?”

Tony looked properly chastised and reached out for Peter’s hand. “Okay,” he said quietly, hoping he could convince himself of it by saying it.

“It’s just…” Peter sighed. “I don’t know how to deal with the rest of it. I have to walk into that school and face… all of _that_.”

“No you don’t.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t have to go to school. Well not that school anyway. You shouldn’t even be there, to be honest. I’ve meant to talk to you about this before. Why aren’t you in college yet?”

“Because I can’t afford it? I’m not sure I was going to be able to go at all, even with a scholarship.”

“Columbia or MIT?” Tony asked. “I’m biased of course, but I looked into Columbia in case you wanted to stay close to home.”

“ _What_?”

“I arranged this even before we became… uh…” He was way too old to think of himself as a ‘boyfriend’ and lover didn’t sound quite right either, though it was closer. “Oh hell…”

Peter laughed. “Why are we talking about _this_ now?”

“I can solve _this_. I can’t do any _damn_ thing about the mess I caused this morning, but this is a problem I can solve.”

“Columbia.”

“Really?” Tony scrunched up his nose. 

Peter smacked Tony’s arm. “Yes, really. It’s where I was hoping to go anyway.” Peter blushed. “And I’ll still be close to you.”

“All right then. Problem solved. You don’t have to go to school face all the stares and questions. At least not today. Not right away. Unfortunately, I don’t think you’re going to be able to avoid the press. They swarmed Pepper really hard this morning.”

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. Is Ms. Potts okay?”

“Absolutely. I made an idiot of myself, which drew the attention right where it belonged, on my dumb ass. But Peter, don’t worry. Pepper knows everything. I told you that. I won’t lie to her.”

“I don’t want you to. I felt so bad at first because I thought you’d have to if we ever, ya know, _did_ anything.”

“No. She has her bits on the side, and I have mine. She was surprised that you were more than that to me, that’s all. Surprised and happy for us. Just like I was happy when she and Maria became committed to each other.”

“I don’t understand it. I mean, I’m not jealous of Ms. Potts, not at all. She’s fantastic. I can’t imagine you not with her. But…” Peter blushed and looked down at their hands, still held together. 

Tony smiled. “You get jealous at the thought of me with anyone else?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know how many women I’ve been with since I married Pepper?”

“Uh unh.” Peter fidgeted with his fingers against Tony’s hand.

“Zero. None. Haven’t wanted to even 'mess around’ a little bit. There isn’t a woman in the world that could hold a candle to what she is and now that she’s mine? What else could I want that I don’t already have?”

“Yeah. I can see that,” Peter said softly.

“Baby…” Tony chucked his finger under Peter’s chin and lifted his face to look into his eyes. “Do you think there’s another man who could distract me once you told me that you loved me back? That some pretty piece of twink tail might interest me more than what I have right here? Not in the world, Petey. Not in the universe.” Tony leaned in and brought their lips together. “Tony Stark is officially off the market, okay? 

"You have to share me with Pepper because, she’s Pepper. That’s never going to change. You understand that. But she also understands that she’s gotta share me with you. We had a long talk this morning. I’ve never…” he sighed. “I’ve never felt like this for anyone else before. Like I do for her almost, but different. Just as serious, just as deep, but god baby. You own a part of me I didn’t even know existed. But it’s all yours and now I can’t live without it. I promised myself when we started that I’d hold on loosely. You’re a young man. You’re going to wander. It’s what young men do. And I’m cool with that. I am. Wander away. Have fun. Sow your wild oats. But I can’t keep the other part of that promise I made myself.”

“What’s that?” Peter asked hesitantly. He couldn’t imagine wanting to 'sow oats’, but Tony was right, much as he hated to admit it, he was young and yes his eyes sometimes wandered. Hell, he was a teenager, a strong breeze could make a certain part of his anatomy wander. But his heart, he knew – he _knew_ – that wouldn’t wander. Ever.

“I promised I’d let you go if you fell in love with someone else.”

“And now?”

Tony looked Peter in his eyes and shook his head slightly. “I can’t. I’d fight for you. I wouldn’t just let you go. I’d scheme and I’d plot and I’d be there just in case whoever it was you left me for didn’t work out and, god Peter, I’m a horrible man, I’d do whatever I could to _make sure_ it didn’t work out.”

Peter smiled slyly. “So you’re jealous.”

“Yes! I am.” It bothered Tony to admit it. Tony very famously didn’t _do_ jealousy. Even with Pepper he didn’t. He’d never felt this dark streak of possessiveness before. 

“I think I like that Mr. Stark,” Peter said, a seductive tone teasing in his voice.

“Oh you are a wicked. wicked boy.”

“Uh huh.” Peter leaned in and ghosted a kiss across Tony’s mouth.

“I think I’m in trouble.”

“You _definitely_ are in trouble.” Peter’s little pink tongue darted out and teased at the edges of Tony’s lips.

Tony gulped. He was the powerful one in relationships. Or played at it. And now he’d just revealed… handed over to his young, smart, beautiful, strong lover… the most powerful card in the deck. And found out that Peter _liked_ holding those cards. "I think… um… I think we need to get you an apartment of your own. You know Aunt May had a fit last time this happened.“ 

Peter chuckled and backed off. "Yeah. If I’m going to be known to the presses as your sugar baby, you’d better live up to your end of the bargain.”

Tony brightened. “Really? You’ll let me spoil you?” He’d been arguing for months to try to get Peter to accept his gifts, to take him shopping, to pamper him silly.

“Why not?”

“Because we spent a whole day arguing about it! You said it’s wrong. You didn’t want people to think of you like that. You weren’t dating me for my money. You had a dozen reasons, all neatly written up with color coded stickered bullet points for fuck’s sake.”

Peter laughed. “Yeah. That was fun. Watching you squirm like that and try to come up with counter arguments.”

Tony gaped. He’d been _had_! Oh he was in so far over his head. He grinned. He loved it. 

Peter sat back and smiled. “Look. No matter what we do, the world is going to think what the world is going to think. As long as you know – you _absolutely_ know – Tony I’m dead serious – I am not with you for your money or your fame or your anything,” Peter reached out and touched Tony’s face, “your anything but _you_. As long as you know that, yes, I’ll let you spoil me. It was fun last night. You were enjoying it so much. I didn’t care what it was I was eating, what wine you were trying to explain to me, I was too caught up in watching your reaction to the whole situation. I guess that’s why I got careless. Why I kissed you like that when we were leaving the restaurant. I am madly in love with you and I love seeing you happy. If it makes you happy to spoil me, please, spoil me rotten.” Peter grinned. “Just… no twelve foot tall bunnies. Ms. Potts told me about that one.”

Tony squeaked, “You talk to Pepper about me?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Oh god. I’m done for.”

Peter laughed. “You love it.”

“Yeah, I do. I’m going to clear my schedule and take you apartment hunting right this minute.” Tony tapped his glasses and gave Friday a rapid-fire list of orders and arrangements to make before turning back to Peter.

“This isn’t going to be easy, kiddo. They’re not going to be nice.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, a little hesitantly. “I know.”

“This is going to take all that bravado you were giving me a bit ago, only as an act. You gotta learn to put on an act for them. It’s tough to learn… I had to learn to do it young too. Create a… a persona. Someone you, but not you. You enough to keep them satisfied, but enough not you that they can hurt you. Do you understand?”

Peter nodded. He remembered how surprised he’d been not long after they first met, when he realized that the Tony he was beginning to know wasn’t the Tony he’d been watching on news reports and press conferences. How finding that out was when his little crush that he’d carried around with him for so long began to blossom into something else. Once he’d seen the cracks in the persona. When he’d found out that Tony was so much more than Tony Stark. 

“I can do it. I’ve been hiding Spider-Man for awhile now. This is just going to be another layer.”

Tony smiled, proud of his boy. “That’s right. And I’m going to be there right beside you, okay?”

“Yeah?” Peter was puzzled by that last.

“Because they’re downstairs outside your building. Or they were when I came up and they’re like a fucking dog with a bone. They don’t give up.”

“Oh,” Peter said sheepishly. He’d known that the kids at school would’ve given him a hard time, but he hadn’t thought of the fact that the gossip press would be waiting outside his door. Of course they would. 

Tony checked the time. “Pepper will have had the PR team to work by now. A lot of the rougher questions will have been answered by the press release.”

“Rougher questions?”

Tony winced. “Yeah. Like what age you were when we started this.”

“Oh. OH! But I was legal age, Mr. Stark. I made sure.”

“Damn right you were.”

Peter grinned. “I won’t ever forget that birthday.”

“Stop it!” Tony laughed. “Don’t say things like that, you’ll get me arrested.”

“Do you know how hard it was for me to wait to seduce you until I knew that wouldn’t happen?”

“Oh yes. You’re a very good boy indeed.” Tony grinned.

“I like being _your_ good boy, Mr. Stark.”

“Peter…” Tony said in a low warning growl. “Aunt May. Next room.” He gently but firmly moved Peter away from him. “New apartment. Now. So next time you tease me I can do something about it!”

Peter stood, laughing and adjusting his now-too-tight jeans. “C'mon. Only nothing too modern for the apartment. And there’s got to be an extra bedroom for when Ned comes over. But I want a view. Like for real. A proper rich kept-boy’s apartment that gets to be a total mess because it’s me, but it’s also, like, you know…”

“Yes. I do remember what sorts of places college students like. I was one once.”

“Really Mr. Stark? They had colleges in the dark ages?” Peter batted his eyelashes and got a smack on the bottom for it. 

To her credit, Aunt May didn’t exactly trip over her own feet ducking away from the door where she’d been listening.

“I promised you I wouldn’t let anything happen to him.”

“Better not.”

“Not for the world.”

“Aunt Maaaayyyy…” Peter groaned. His aunt tapped her cheek and Peter ran over to give her a peck before heading out with Tony.

“Ready?” Tony asked as the elevator hit the lobby floor.

Peter threaded his arm through Tony’s, plastered on a smile imitating the dozens of others he’d seen on Tony’s more insipid conquests in their 'morning after’ pictures, and nodded. “Ready,” he leaned close and whispered, “Mr. Stark.”

The paparazzi caught the perfect picture. A very flustered billionaire philanthropist playboy with his giggling boy-toy on his arm. Peter even waved. Tony beamed with pride. Peter Parker was going to be just as much of a match for him as Pepper Potts was. Tony Stark was indeed the luckiest man in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> My Starker blog on tumblr is [starker-stories](https://starker-stories.tumblr.com/).  
> Come on by and visit.


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